Resignation
by Titanic-fanatic
Summary: Pepperony! Set straight after the rooftop at the end of Ironman 2 when Pepper decides to quit. Fluff but usual banter of course. FIRST IRONMAN FIC BE GENTLE WITH ME! Haha, enjoy!
1. Resignation

Resignation

"You can't resign" Tony smirked, taking Pepper's hands "You going to just leave me like that, huh?"

"We'll see" she giggled as he pulled her closer.

He kissed Pepper roughly and briefly, cutting off her laughter. Despite this he could still feel her smiling beneath his lips "S'more like it".

Tony continued to watch her beam at him for a moment, just taking in her flushed face and glistening green eyes "Do you want to…get out of here?" he offered, his own eyes darkening with want.

"It is a bit of a dump" Pepper agreed, not being able to tear her gaze away.

"Pile of crap really…some good looking idiot must have built it" he returned quickly, also struggling not to look back at her.

"Absolutely" Pepper confirmed.

"Yeah, we're talking ridiculously handsome you know. The kinda guy that is just irresistible to women. He's like some kind of magnet : a female magnet if you will"

She gave him an 'are you kidding' look which he gathered to mean 'shut

up and kiss me', it was a thin line between the two in his eyes. When she beat him to it, he was more than thrilled to say the least.

He flashed Pepper a brilliant smile and without warning scooped her up into his arms. Hers wound around his neck as he took a few steps forward and grabbed his helmet. Pepper took it from his grasp and clicked it into place on his head. With that they shot off into the night sky, destined for home.

* * *

As Tony set her down, Pepper felt like her feet didn't touch the ground and as though it would be impossible to ever do so again even. Everything was so wonderful. A little windswept and breathless she leant against his desk watching Tony with adoring eyes. He ripped off the helmet and chucked it to the ground before Jarvis began dismantling the mangled suit off him.

"Jarvis, I'm going to need to make some adjustments, but salvage what you can" he instructed.

"Certainly Sir, I can have it ready for the morning" he responded.

"Will I be available tomorrow morning Miss Potts?" Tony questioned, turning around on the spot. She wasn't quite prepared for his now ebony eyes, however what threw her the most was his soft and doting smile. Pepper, who was expecting the mischievous grin that she was all too familiar with (the one he wore when he saw a pretty blonde) misplaced all expression in her face.

She was literally lost for words and her heart skipped a beat, or four - she couldn't attempt register anything else but him right now.

"No…um…Mr Stark, you will be in the midst of an _unavoidable_ appointment" Pepper managed, just about collecting herself.

"Very well" Tony responded, enjoying her fluster "Jarvis you heard the lady!" he clapped, acting more like the happy-go-lucky Tony Pepper recognized "Don't wait up for Daddy"

"Am I to take it that this unavoidable appointment has something to do with your increased levels of testosterone and dilated pupils and Miss Potts' ever quickening pulse?" Jarvis observed as Tony closed the space between himself and Pepper in few purposeful strides.

"I think that would be a very astute assumption" Tony confirmed, placing his hands on Pepper's hips "Am I right?" he continued in an undertone and narrowing his gaze into her eyes.

"Mhm" and nodding was all Pepper could muster, she felt as though his hands were sending a wildfire of heat right through her and combusting everything inside. Feeling like he was the only thing keeping her stood upright, Pepper was powerless to stop it and definitely not in control for once. Then again whenever she had imagined being in this situation with Tony, Pepper had never seen herself being the instigator, or in charge by any means. It was one of his notorious fortes after all; the seduction of women.

He was now looking into Pepper's eyes with a thoughtful glimmer, as though attempting to discern what to do with her as she essentially melted in his grasp.

She was enjoying it, that she could not deny – things in Tony's control always intrigued her, knowing she could only begin to imagine what plans were running through his dark and absorbed gaze.

"Night Mr Stark, Miss Potts" Jarvis interrupted, spurring Tony into motion. With that he seized her hand silently and led Pepper out of the workshop.

It was only when he let go of her hand that she became confused and aware of her surroundings. They were in his bedroom. Bewildered and rushed off her feet somewhat Pepper saw him make his way onto the balcony.

"You coming?" he questioned after a moment passed.

Slowly Pepper rounded the doorway to see Tony staring thoughtfully out to sea. His expression looked conflicted as she stood at his side; he was leaning his hands on the balcony side, head stooped a little between sculpted shoulders.

She took a tentative step closer, her hands resting close together on the metal bar in front of her.

They stood like this for what seemed an age. Pepper had found herself listening to his breathing, so steady and subdued. He was evidently debating something in private, she recognized the calculating look that was focused somewhere in the mid distance.

Unable to help it, she looked out also, waiting. Pepper had no clue what was running through his brilliant mind and it unnerved her, as it always did, when he remained silent for a long period of time.

It was only when she felt that heat on her skin again that she was brought away from her anxiety. Eyes darting to the warmth she saw Tony's little finger running over hers and closing the space between them.

Pepper sprang her gaze to his face. His brow was now knitted together in thought, pained, and his eyes were transfixed with the contact. He was studying the small and rhythmic motions he made over her skin.

"Pepper there is something you need to know" Tony began seriously, eyes flickering up to hers that remained consumed by his delicate touch.

His hands enveloped hers and she stared back at him through her lashes.

Tony was rendered breathless for a second.

The moonlight illuminated her features in such a magnificent way it made him question how he'd not seen this coming from the beginning. She was so soft and so innocently perfect.

He didn't want to ruin that.

Perhaps that was why it had taken him so long to come to terms with how he felt for Pepper. He wanted to make sure she he didn't treat her like just another girl because she wasn't. Virginia Pepper Potts meant more to him than any and all of them.

She was _it, _the pinnacle of everything…and he was standing in front of her right now.

"The thing is you already know" he continued, expression as though he was about to bite down on his bottom lip.

She furrowed her brow.

"God Pep, don't look so worried" he noted to add some levity, own face relaxing.

"I'm always worried when it comes to you" she admitted before she could stop herself. Pepper often found herself just divulging things when she was talking to Tony. There was a trust there; she knew that whatever she said it was between them and nobody else on Earth. She was more herself than she was with anybody else when talking to Tony. The shade of brown now present in his starlit eyes suggested that the feeling was reciprocated. Then again he was so comfortable in his own skin and so darn confident, well confident was an understatement…

"I still make you nervous, hm?" he pressed, trying to work her out.

'_To the point as always'_ she mused "No it's just that-" Pepper replied.

"I can't _be_ without you" he blurted out, hands now held at his sides in surrender. He paused, registering his own action and in turn Pepper's reaction "Pepper" he added in earnest as confirmation of what he said. Tony was giving her that same expression as when admitting she was all he had, the day she'd helped change his arc-reactor over.

She smiled at this, she couldn't help but smile "What I mean to say…" he started again, struggling "What I was trying to tell you before in the office is…is…" he couldn't quite muster the words, not yet. Tony was getting there though; he could feel it. He also felt like a complete chump simultaneously which was not helping. Tony had never said this before to anybody in his life and her looking at him so full of anticipation seemed to be inhibiting him for some bizarre reason "Is that I don't know how I to function when you aren't around"

Pepper looked a little disappointed, he didn't want that "Not in an organizing where I should be and how I will get there or what the company rota is doing for next month and what I am eating for lunch way…although you are great at all that. Fantastic even" he clarified in a ramble.

"Hmm" Pepper attempted, trying to follow where he was going with this.

He exhaled impatiently, wrinkling his mouth as though to psyche himself up.

"Pepper" he said strongly, taking her firmly by the shoulders "Virginia" he resumed in a softer raspy tone, grasp loosening slightly.

Despite the flurry of energy his tone of voice induced, Pepper continued to watch him flounder for a few seconds, a part of her was rather happy to see that she somehow completely scrambled his head. After all these years they had known each other and he couldn't say, for once, what he was thinking. He really was stupid some times.

"I love you too" she stated in the wake of his frustration.

He grinned at this, now boyish eyes gorging on her as though she were the only thing in existence "You do?"

She nodded, resting her wrists on the collar of his t-shirt.

His hands slipped to her waist, cradling her frame tenderly "It was always you" he added frankly, almost apologetically.

She simply smiled at him, closing the gap between them with a passion driven kiss. A hand roamed up her back, not allowing Pepper to pull back.

"Ah no you don't" Tony mumbled planting tender kisses along her jaw, making his way to just below her ear.

Then she began fiddling with his hair, biting her lip and throwing her head back as his beard tickled her "Not letting you go now I finally have you where I want you" he remarked into her skin. She was starting to wind him up now, in a good way.

His lips traced their way back to hers, their eyes connecting for a knowing moment. Then it clicked, smiles faded and their lips met unlike ever before. All the love and tension of unsaid words and incomplete conversations that had been pent up over their time together was being exuded with each millimeter of contact.

The lust was bursting its banks as they hardly parted for air now. Taking the cue Tony lifted Pepper a little so her heels hovered half an inch from the ground. Carrying her in his caress he led her to the bed, setting her down gently.

She kicked off her shoes, leaning back on her hands as she watched him pull his shirt off. The full brightness of his arc-reactor, caused her to flutter her eyelashes adjusting to the light.

"I can put it back on if-" he offered, noting her blinking in discomfort.

Pepper didn't give him a chance to finish as she launched herself at him, he ended up mumbling into her mouth instead, grinning cheekily.

Within seconds Tony had negotiated the zip on her dress with his expertly capable hands and the dress itself had vanished somewhere. Tony wasn't too fussed it was not important. Neither was his clothing apparently, according to Pepper, much to his delight.

It was only a while later, a very long 'while later' when he'd propped himself above her and was resting his forehead on hers that Tony managed to speak again "God I love you Pepper Potts" he managed breathily, staring directly into her viridian eyes.

She grabbed Tony's glistening face and pulled his lips gently to hers, his hands coveting her as she did so.

That was the last thing either recalled before falling asleep.

* * *

The sun had risen and Pepper felt Tony stirring beside her, his hands still wound possessively around her. It felt so surreal that Pepper wasn't even sure if this was in fact reality.

Going to move Tony pulled her flush against him under the covers, she could feel his smile against the back of her neck.

"You're still here" she noted, not sure why she was surprised. Despite Tony having often left random women alone in his bed before Pepper had a suspicion he never told them he loved them by the way he was holding her so.

"I believe it is my bed so technically _you _are still here" he returned sleepily.

"Like I have a choice" she replied, placing on of her hands on his.

"So can I consider you my wildly conflicted girlfriend then?" he murmured into her hair, taking in the scent.

Pepper smirked and he pecked her shoulder blade "I'll take that as a yes" Tony resolved, snuggling back up to her.

Yes. It was reality all right; Pepper couldn't have imagined Tony as unfailingly _gallant_ as he actually was.


	2. The Omelette

Chapter 2 – The Omelette

Pepper opened her eyes for the second time that day. This time there was no warmth surrounding her or the sensation of breath tickling the nape of her neck.

A flurry of worry fluttered in her stomach and she sat up swiftly.

The bed was empty, save her.

"Mr Stark is awaiting you in the kitchen Miss Potts" Jarvis informed after a moment.

Pepper felt her anxiety slip away along with the fear that the last conversation was a dream or worse that it had happened and Tony had changed his mind. She rose, going through his drawers for some form of clothing. On finding a suitable ensemble Pepper wandered down to the kitchen.

She peered around the concrete pillar, clinging to it playfully on spying him. Tony seemed engrossed in plating up something on the island in the middle of the room.

Pepper straightened herself up with a fleeting smirk and strode into to kitchen casually. She settled against the small glass table by the window, curiously watching him continue his cooking.

"Morning" she interrupted.

His head bolted up and remained there, a familiar smirk puckered his right cheek. She could feel his eyes raking over her shamelessly. Pepper hadn't rendered him silent before; she liked it.

"You left" she continued a hint of sadness in her voice.

"I thought you'd be hungry" Tony answered, lifting the frying pan and wooden spoon in his hands and into her view, as though it wasn't obvious what he was doing in the kitchen at this hour.

"You look hot by the way" he added, as though it wasn't obvious by the way he was devouring her with his dark gaze at this precise moment. She was standing there in one of his navy vests and pairs boxers, strawberry blonde hair unruly and framing her smiling face. This rivaled the backless dress that was for sure.

Tony contemplated whether 'perfect' was an overstatement for a short moment and resulted in the response "Wear my clothes more often please"

He had instructed it rather than requested, turning to the sink and depositing his utensils. He swore he could hear her blushing as he did so.

"Did you just make me breakfast?" Pepper questioned, a hint of amazement in her tone.

"Always so surprised" he sighed; turning back to her and grabbing a knife and fork along with his masterpiece. He made his way swiftly to her, holding the plate between them.

"Wait, this an omelette?" Pepper asked, looking to it and then him directly in the eyes.

"Yes" Tony confirmed "I believe so?" a quizzical expression playing on his features. He wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"Does that mean you're going to tell me what was going on?" she continued, crossing her arms expectantly.

"Can't we just _enjoy_ this?" he spiritedly pleaded, lulling his head to the right as he dipped it.

"Tony" she said firmly.

He stared at her for a long moment, analyzing every inch of her face. There was no way she would give up easily. He opened his mouth, pausing.

"I promise…post omelette…I'll tell you everything you want to know" he bartered.

She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him, it seemed a reasonable compromise. She took the omelette quietly and sat down.

He placed the cutlery on the table "Juice? Coffee?" he offered.

"Juice" Pepper answered "Please"

Trying not to smile like a complete idiot was hard but Pepper managed it. Tony was being so sweet to her, like a completely different person to the guy who went off for a weapons demonstration in Afaghanistan a year ago. He was being such a gentleman.

He placed the orange juice in front of her before pouring a glass for himself and reclining into his seat opposite.

Tony smiled at her, gesturing to eat.

'_Stupid Pepper, forgetting to eat'_ she chided herself; evidently she had become too lost in Tony's courteous behavior to do anything else.

"You're not eating?" she noted, spying the absence of an additional plate.

"I ate already" Tony dismissed, thinking to the doughnuts he'd purchased. Man they had tasted good.

Pepper picked up her knife and fork and began her breakfast, not quite anticipating how good it tasted despite having had a wonderful _'omelette a la Tony'_ before on the plane back from Monaco. Her mind drifted to that conversation as she chewed.

"Verdict?" he pried on taking a swig from his glass.

"Delicious" she responded, rapidly making her way through the food. Pepper didn't realize how hungry she actually was "It's really delicious"

He smiled contently as she cleared the plate.

"So are you going to tell me what was going on?" Pepper inquired after a sip of her drink. She set it to the side and took his hand that was on the table into hers, achieving his full and undivided attention.

"Inside the arc reactor is a palladium core or was anyway" he began, gazing out the window. He felt it easier to look out the window than at Pepper; it made it seem like he was reciting some disconnected event rather than skirting around the occurrence that had caused some painful contemplations "There was apparently unavoidable neutron damage from the reactor wall, causing the palladium erode into my blood" he continued clinically. He could feel the intensity of her eyes on him as he attempted to look out at the calm ocean. Tony knew he had to look at her eventually.

He deliberated it for a moment, resulting in him setting his eyes on her face, gauging Pepper's slowly morphing expression. She clearly looked worried and anxious and any other word that could be attributed to the clear concern in her gaze.

Tony really didn't enjoy seeing her like this.

"The arc reactor kept me alive but also killing me" he said dryly and polished off the remark with a huff of a laugh; an attempt to add some levity.

It didn't work. Pepper looked more horrified than before and she was clinging onto his hand tighter than he gathered she'd noticed. Not that he minded _that_. It was just he knew he was upsetting her and he'd wanted this morning to just be fun and happy.

He'd finally told Pepper how he felt and she reciprocated it still – _thank god._

That was something to be joyous about. Celebrated! He'd come to realize, as of late, how short life was and had become resolute in staying true to his nature; not dwelling on the past.

"Didn't help that wearing the suit was accelerating it" he added in an undertone – she wouldn't like that.

"My God Tony, why didn't you tell me?" Pepper managed, still trying to absorb all that he was saying. How had she been so foolish as to not realize what he was going through?! She'd figured he was hiding something from her but what she'd assumed was trivial in comparison to _this_. Pepper had nearly, inadvertently, lost Tony by pushing him away.

"That's why you wanted to go to Venice…" Pepper realized aloud; how had it not dawned on her on the plane? All that talk of being healthy and…

She became momentarily distracted by his eyes, they were penetrating hers with a bit more meaning than the familiar and awkward 'yeah, well not to worry' look he was putting to her.

"You were trying to tell me in the office too, weren't you?" she grasped, smoothing his skin with her thumbs.

He said nothing and continued to stare into her eyes, so she pressed on "You fixed it though yeah, you're going to be okay?"

"Shield and my Dad may have been involved" Tony answered truthfully.

"Your Dad?" Pepper questioned with a tone of confusion.

Her tone didn't surprise Tony; the man had been dead for 20 years after all.

"Yeah long story short I rediscovered an element he'd discovered; the stark expo map, you know the one in the office" Tony summarized.

She nodded curiously.

"Blueprint for it" he informed, biting on his bottom lip with a smile. He shook his head, the awe of his father's brilliance brimming in his eyes "_'The key to the future is here'_ and all that – it's clean energy Pepper" he explained, unable to quite mask the spark of excitement about it.

Her mouth formed a little 'o' shape, astonished.

"Well that's…" Pepper managed after a few seconds "don't ever do that again" Tony's eyebrows knitted together, visibly confused as she rounded the table to

"Talk to me" she enlightened him.

"You needed me to go remember" Tony reminded, hurt hovering in his hazel eyes.

"I'm sorry Tony" she replied, mirroring the pained gaze.

"I suppose I could forgive you" he mused playfully, letting out an exhale "That all depends on-"

Pepper interrupted his mouth with a kiss and planted herself on his lap. Tony grinned widely, holding her by her hips and responding with equal enthusiasm.

With that the ring of a phone sounded.

The pair broke apart, much to their annoyance.

"Apologies for interrupting, Mr Stark, Miss Potts but there is a call" Jarvis informed.

"Who is it?" Tony asked, eyes washing over Pepper as she leant her head against his, her hands in his hair. It was a miracle he managed to get the question out; she was rather wonderfully distracting like this.

"Shield" Jarvis informed.

Tony groaned at that information, as he knew what Pepper would do.

"You do owe them your life" she justified, sure enough, getting off him and taking the plate and cutlery from the table.

He watched her longingly, looking more like a boy who was being forced to go to school when he wanted to play with his shiny new toy all day.

She leant over to him, placing a kiss on his forehead and heading to the sink. Tony assumed that meant _'I'll be here when you get back'_ and so got up grudgingly, going to leave.

"You best still be wearing that when I get back Potts" he mentioned, heading through the doorway.

"Who knows if I'll be wearing anything at all" Pepper called back, rinsing her plate.

She heard his footsteps quicken at that and smirked, maybe he'd be on time for a meeting…just this once in his life.


End file.
